Packing for shafts and the like.



W Inf/e72? S. Z. DE FERRANTI.

PACKING FOR. SHAFTS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23, 1911.

Patented July 23, 1912.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

S. Z. DE PERRANTI.

- PACKING FOR SHAFTS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.23, 1911.

1 033,237 Patented July 23, 1912.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2 Fig.2. c

'IIIIIII w S. Z. DE PERRANTL PACKING FOR SHAFTS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILEfD FEB.23,1911. 1,033,237. Patented July 23,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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SEBASTIAN ZIANI DE-FERRANTI, OF-GRINDLEFORD BRIDGE, ENGLAND.

PAbKIivG FOR sHAr'rs-AND THE LIKE;

To all whom it concern:

Be it known that I, SEnAs'rIAN ZIANI DE FERRANTI, asubject of the King of Great Britainand Ireland, and residing at Grindleford Bridge, in the county of Derby, England, have invented certain new and useful, Improvements in and Relating to Packings for Shafts and the Like and Certain Applications Thereof, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to packings for shafts, spindles or other rotatable bodies and is specially suitable for use in conjunction with turbines and turbo-compressors.

In my U. S. patent specification No. 930,848, I have described a form of bearing applied to spinning machines, in which bearing a film of air between accurately machined co-acting surfaces serves as the lubrlv eating agent. In the course'of experiments devised 'to' apply such bearings as paekings to prevent escape of fluid along a shaft, it

has been found that when steelruns on steel under the conditions existing in an engine house, for example, particles of grit are apt to enter unless'special precautions are taken and thereby cause the packing to work badly or even break down entirely. To overcome this difliculty experiments were made with rings of other material surrounding the shaft but further difiiculties arose owing to the difierent co-etficients of expansion of the materials employed.

The primary object of this part of the present invention is thus to overcome the difliculties heretofore experienced in adapting elastic fluid bearings tothe purpose of shaft packings. 1 I

To these ends the first part of the invention may be summarized broadly as consisting in 'a packing having elastic fluid bearing clearances, 'the oo-acting members of the packing and object packed being constructed of mutually non-abrasive materials.

The invention consists further in a packing for shafts and. the like in which a ring of non-abrasive material divided into segments is disposed in operative proximity to the shaft and 1s mounted in a frame or cagev having substantially the same co-efiicient of expansion as the shaft or. the like.

a set' of blades.

Specification of Letters latent. Patented J uly 23, 1912. Application filed February 23, 1911. Serial No. 610,332. r

The invention consists more specifically in a packing as indicated in which a ring of graphitedivided into segments is mounted in a frame in such 'a manner that expansion or contraction of the frame draws the graphite segments with it. v

The invention further. consists inv surrounding the segmentally-divided ring or- The invention above described modified somewhat to meet the different conditions may likewise be applied to the packing of or prevention of leakage past the blades of tur bine motors and compressors.

As is wellunderstood, it IS necessary in order.to obtain the highest efliclencies' in turbo-machinery of the type to which this part of the invention applies, to reduce as far as possible the clearance between the rotor in immediate proximity to them, this blade ends and the parts of the stator or reduction being of particular importance at the high pressure end where the blade Many-proposals have been made for eflecting the object indicated,

lengths are short.

and at the same time overcoming the accompanying difliculty of preventing or minimizing damage due'to accidental contact of the parts concerned, and the primary object of this part of the present invention is to secure the result sought with means that are both simple and not liable to derangement.

To these ends, the second part of the invention consists broadly in providing a packing or steadying member of non-seizing nonmetallic material such as carbon, on or 00- acting with fluid directing members such as More specifically the second part of the invention consists in providing carbon rings on the shr ouding rings of the statonblades and on the body ofthe stator between adjacent rings of blades, such carbon rings coacting respectively with the body of the rotor and with the shrouding rings of the rotor blades. Z

The invention also consists in the novel D part of the end shows pacirings for shows a combination of steadying while 5 shows longitudinal section through the packed and and floating packing steadi l blades of a pressure flow turbine.

The drawings are to certain extent of a diagrammatic nature while to avoid unnecessary duplication in 1, only those parts on one side of the center line A-E are shown.

in carrying the first part of the invention into effect according to one form as applied. by way of example to a turbine shaft, 0;, subject to changes of temperature, a ring of pure graphite is built up of av number of segments, Z), Z), closely fitting along radial lines or planes. *On each lateral face of this ring toward its larger diameter, an annular groove is turned into which fits the corresponding projecting flange, c, of a steel ring, at. Tn contact with the graphite ring so constructed a secondsimilar ring isarranged, the segments of the two rings being relatively displaced as seen in Fig.2 so as to break joint and in contact with the second ring, a third ring is arranged. The steel holding rings, (Z, between adjacent rings of graphite are flanged on each face, while a sufiicient amount of the graphite is turned away to allow those parts ofthe faces of the graphite rings clear of the holding rings to .butt against one another as sho-wn.' The holding rings themselves are held in place by a fiat steel hoop, e, secured by burring over at the ends or in any suitable manner. In the example illustrated a pair of the compound graphite and steel rings so formed are disposed along the shaft side by side, such compound rings being held steam-tight in cast-iron rings, f, of l. -section, within which they can adjust themselves" radially, the cast iron "rings fitting closely against adjacent members such as the casing or housing, it, which incloses them: The caslng, h, is provided with a cover, 2', and is secured to the larger cover, 70, 'which in turn serves to hold the casing,m, of the packing for the dummy piston, n,.in place in relation to the turbine casing, 0. Clean packing steam to provide a graded pressure drop and prevent the introduction of foreign particles, may be introduced as shown through the duct, g. The packing should in the first instance be closely possible to the f s latter rst runs against cons1derer a short time, however,

e resis 's c 7 vided will draw the caroon segnei rally outward and so maintain the proper clearance automatically at (lllll'tiflu temperatures.

an addition to the demos described above tio'htl fit-tim external ring. see J m :3 k) 7 3 and 4:) may inclose the steel mounting of the graphite packing, this ring being prevented from turning by any convenient means such as the tongue or detent, s, sepa rated from the body of the ring and bent outward afterthe manner of a hinge as shown so as to co-act with a corresponding recess, 6, in. the surrounding ring, the external ring, a", may also in some cases be provided with a certain number of transverse corrugations, u, to increase its expansibility,

The function of the external ring, a", is as follows P-Tn the event of the graphite packing becoming too tight and thus being our ried around with the shaft, the steel holding ring or mounting, 6, will make a few turns inside the stationary external rin '2", and in view of the close fit existing between these parts will generate heat frictionally and so expand the mounting and draw the graphite clear of the shaft.

Tn some cases, the packing may be so arranged that very littleradial movement is possible, in which case the double function is served of packing and steadying the shaft against Whipping or flexure. Thus in Fig.

5, the carbon segments, o, are shown mount- 'ed in a holder, w, which in turn fits closely in the turbine casing, the device thus acting effectively to steady the shaft; a steam in let is indicated at x. .The floating carbon rings shown in Fig. 1 are indicated as be.- fore by the letter, Z).

The blade packing described hereinafter may also be used as a steadier in conjunction the graphite makes own with the segments 6; or in the case of a f .multicellular turbine, one or more rings of the steadying packing may be combined With one or more rings of the floating type to steady and pack the shaft where it passes from one cell to thenext. Such a combination in a turbine, of rigidly-supported and floating rings of packing is found to give very good resultsin practice, the different requirements connected with the supporting andpac-king of the rotating parts of the turbine beingdistributed among the various members as follows :The ordinary main bearings of the'turbine take the dead-weight of therotating parts; the rigidly-supported fitting and guided by the shaftior the like act solely as packings to prevent leakage.

Similar composite elastic fluid bearing rings may likewise be used to form the standing element of a dummy piston or like part, such an applidation of the invention being shown in Fig. 1. As before the carbon packing maybe mounted in the form. of segments 6, (four main courses of which are shown) in a steel frame which expands. with increase of temperature and so maintains the desired clearance; a supplementaryring of steadying packing,o, is also shown together with a steam inlet, w, as'be'fore'. In. the class of bearing to which the present invention relates it is advisable that any steam or, other fluid so introduced should be first cleaned in a centrifugal separator or otherwise.

Where the temperature to which the'parts are subjected is uniform or approximately so,-it is unnecessary to divide the ring into segments, a solid ring accurately turned in relationto the shaft giving good results; or

the ring may be built up of segments dovetailed into one another Or again, carbon segments fmay be employed with the radial joints butting, the segments being tied together by a metal band for example under considerabletension. WVith small temperature :changes', the clearance when cold may be soproportioned-as to become a fluid bear- 1ng clearance at the working temperature.

Such a packing works well and with a very small degree of friction and heating, and in these respects is to be distinguished from packings built up of carbon segments pressed against the shaft orfirod by the pressure of springs or fluid on their rear surfacesj Moreover, in some cases the co-acting surfaces of the packings and shaft or dummy may be made conical as indicated'in Fig. 1 so that a fine adjustment of diameter may be made by appropriate means provided to give an end movement. i

In some cases certain of the-structures de-' scribed or indicated above may be used for sliding as well as for rotating packings and may be sometimesuse l .in addition as de scribed with referencet-o the second part of the invention, when the conditions do not allow the full advantages of the air bearing to be secured. a

Any. of the packings described may be reversed, z'. 6., the. packing may be disposed internally. to the cylinder or the like to be packed, in which case the steel! holding frame acts to expand the packing to the cylinder as the latter itself expands and thus maintain the proper clearance automatically.

A development or extension of .the above forming the second part of the invention may be carried into effect according to'one form as shown in Fig. 6, both the standing blades, 2, .and running blades, 3, being shrouded in any suitable manner. The shrouding. ring, 4, of the running blades -must be finished ofl as smoothly as possible without leaving any sharp edges or irregularities. Theshrouding ring, 5, of the stand- :ing blades, however, is specially formed for example with a dovetailed groove as shown, into which segmental strips of carbon, 6, of

similar section are forced. -The inner ,di-

finished to a diameter very slightly'greater than that of the finished. surface of the shrouding rings, 0, of the running blades. In some cases the carbon strips may if desired be attached to and rotate with the turbine rotor. The carbon segments 'form ing the complete ring may be checked, re-

cessed or dovetailed into one another in any suitable manner, or where rings of greater breadth are requlred two or more thicknesses of carbon may be used with the come ponent segments breaking joint with one another in the'manner described in an earlier part of this specification. blocks or segments, moreover, may in some the required dimensions, and cemented into place with a composition of graphite and oil The carbon cases be formed originally only roughly to or the like. In the first'part of'my invention above described forms of packing are described in which carbon segments are carried .by a steel rlng, so as to expand and contract with changes of-temperature to the same degree as the shaft itself. A similar.

result is obtained in the present case, since the segmentally divided rings of. carbon are in each case mounted, in a metal holder, and can therefore freely expand and contract so that the turbine will run with a very small clearance.

I. have found that pure :graphi'te such as that manufactured in an electric furnace, has a very low co-eflicientof friction when run in contactwith steel, and cannot seize. so that if any deflection of the -running parts occurs, the parts concerned will .come into ters contact with the low friction surface oft carbon and will thus be steadied without any liability of damage by abrasion or the like instead of adding to the disturbance as in present constructions. Moreover, on

ccount of the small clearances provided, any momentary displacement orthe rotor is checked before the movement has reached serious dimensions.

Although good results are obtained in. practice by the use of pure graphite, nevertheless in some cases, compound materials containing a graphitic substance as an essential element or even white metal may be used or any other material which does not abradethe packed member.

wish it to be understood that although I have described particular examples oi": my invention in considerable detail, nevertheless the principles involved may be embodied in. a variety of other structural forms.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and'desire to secure by Let- Patent is:-

1. in combination, a rotatable machine member to be packed and non-abrasive packing disposed in operative relation thereto and separated therefrom by a lubricating film of elastic fluid, the continuity-o1 which is maintained by forces dependent on the rotation of said member.

2. in combination, a rotatable machine member to be packed and carbon packing disposed in operative relation thereto and separated therefrom by a lubricating film of elastic fluid, the continuity of which is main-.

tained by forces dependent on the rotation of said member.

3. In combination, a machlne member to be packeo; a ring of segments of nonabrasive material disposed in operativerelation thereto with a certain radial clearance, and a rigid holder for said segments, said holder and saidsegments being positively interlocked as regards radial movement.

4. ln combination, a machine member to be packed; a ring of carbon segments disposed in operative relation thereto with a certain radial clearance, and a rigid holder for said segmentsof about thesame coethcient of expansion as the member packed, said holder and said segments being positively interlocked as regards radial move ment.

5. In combination, a machine member to be packed; packing in proximity to said.

member; a movably mounted holder for said packing and stationary friction-producing means in operative relationship to said holder.

6. In combination, a machine member to be packed; rigidly held packing steadying the same withacertain small clearance and floating packing disposed in operative rela tionship to said member with a lesser clean ance. a

7 ln combination, a rigid metal holder out annular form a plurality 0;? packing segments'of graphitic material positively locked thereto as regards radial movement.

8. In combination, a rotatable machine member to be packed; a ring oi'c segments ct graphitic material disposed in operative re lationship thereto together with a metal rigid holder of annular form to which said segments are positively locked as regards radial movement.

9. In combination in a turbine, sets ct stator and rotor blading; stator and rotor bodies on which said sets of blading are respectively mounted; shrouding means for the blading of one of said sets and adj acently disposed solid packings for said blading mounted on the other of said bodies.

10. in combination, a turbine rotor blade; shrouding means therefor; a turbine casing; packing of a graphitic substance carried by said casing and co-acting with said shrouding means; stator blades; a turbine rotor body and similar packing carried by said stator blades and co-acting with said rotor.

11. lln combination in a turbine, sets of stator and rotor blading; stator and rotor bodies on which said sets of blading are re spectively mounted; shrouding means for the blading of one of said sets and adj acently disposed solid packings of a graphitic sub-' stance for said blading mounted on the other of sald bodies.

12. lin combination in a turbine, sets of stator and rotor blading; stator and rotor bodies on which said sets of blading are re spectively mounted; shrouding means for the blading of one of said sets and adj acently disposed solid packings for said blading positively locked to the other of said bodies.

13. In combination, a machine member to be packed, and packing therefor rotatable relatively to one another said packing being disposed in operative relation to said mem-. her and separated therefrom by a lubricating film of elastic fluid, the continuity of which is maintained by forces dependent .on said relative rotation. 1

14. A machine member to be packed and cently disposed courses of packing segments causing a relative axial movement between having annular grooves in their lateral said member and said packing to adjust the faces; intervening rings having flanges fit- Working, clearances Y ting into said grooves and means for clamp- In testimony whereof. I have signed my 5 ing said segments and intervening rings toname to this specification in the presence or 15 gether. two subscribing Witnesses. 17. In combination, a rotatable machine SEBASTIAN ZIANI D FERRANTI.

member to be packed, and packing therefor, Witnesses:

the operative surfaces of said member and LOUIS FRED NOMI, i

10 packing being slightly c'oned, and means for WILLIAM DUNCAN DAVIDSON. 

